At the beginning of December I had a small crisis. Over the years, thinking of ideas for parties, planning parties and executing parties has become a part of who I am. But when I started to brainstorm ideas for our NYE party, I came up empty. I was bored of throwing the same old dinner parties or appetizer-only parties we had been throwing, but that’s all I could come up with. My research on Pinterest didn’t help either, I only found ideas for NYE parties for/with kids. Luckily Rob wasn’t going to let me abandon the party planning part of my personality as easily as I was. I can’t remember the exact thing he said that triggered my lightbulb, but somewhere in his brainstorming he mentioned not serving people dinner or appetizers and only serving a fun signature drink. This simple suggestion got me out of my rut and the party brain started churning again! I decided on hosting a dessert party with champagne and a signature punch. What could be more fun than drinking some bubbles while eating a bunch of sugar as the clock struck midnight right?

In reality, to ingest that much sugar in one sitting for a bunch of 30 somethings is hard. The party was not ruined, but it was a learning experience. Next time I host a dessert party (and I want to host one again) I will make sure to include a few salty snacks to counteract all of the sugar. Luckily, our friends brought ingredients to make late night nachos. Instead of consuming them after midnight like we had planned, we made them early and they saved us all from severe sugar hangovers.

The menu:

Cake Batter Dip with Animal Crackers- the most sugary culprit. Three animal crackers dipped in this dip was enough to turn me off sugar for the rest of that night and for the few weeks following the party.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries- tip: wash and dry your strawberries long before you dip them. If even one droplet of water touches the chocolate while it is melting or once it has melted, it will cause the chocolate to seize (the chocolate will not be smooth, it will look more like dough) and your chocolate dipped strawberries will not look very appetizing.

Blueberry Galette- brought by my cousin

Krispy Kreme Donuts- brought by my sister in law.

Lemon Cupcakes- brought by some friends

French 75 Punch- it was such a hit at our Spring Soiree that we decided to serve it again!Do you have a signature dessert you like to make for parties?

*Sorry for the lack of photos and the poor quality of the only one I have. I had dipped into the punch a bit before I realized I had no pictures to document the party!